CONTROVERSY: DO MALE INFLUENCERS REALLYHAVE ANINFLUENCE ON SALES?
Carole Lamarque Co-founder of Duval Union
NO “Female influencer marketing is a strategy with guaranteed success. With men, this does not happen,” affir ms Carole Lamarque, founder of the Duval Union consulting fir m and author of the best-seller Influencers (Lannoo Campus), who has a clear opinion of the relationship between masculinity, style and Instag ram stars. “A man wants to appear as a leader of himself: to have followers rather than to follow,” she explains from her office in Antwerp. Women, she argues, have no problem in showing themselves to be more gregarious: they take explicit pr ide in being inspired by role models, and declare that they enjoy wearing the same dress as seen on a celebr ity at the Met Gala.
However she then ag rees that the purchase by her husband of the new Porsche Macan was matured in the same way, after long sessions on YouTube and social networks. “But this is different: emotional influencer marketing in the male target is not effecti ve, and those who pur sue it are wrong.” Or rather, stresses the scholar, emotionality must always be conveyed as a secondar y aspect of technical infor mation: “A man must be able to say ‘I have studied the matter’, not ‘I was inspired’.”
The evolved and mature consumer, she continues, does not like to receive information from an influencer who conveys the idea of doing it as a profession, who has found a pr ofitable sector and r ides the g ravy train without a foundation. On the contrar y, he wants to meet those who b urn with real interest, those “driven by passion”. With those who spend thousands of hours with bolts and scr ewdrivers on the same object. “A company that hires characters with millions of followers but who are generalists and little committed, vain, who go from one partnership to another, is wrong. A man wants to talk with the exper t, otherwise the message r ebounds.”
And indeed, more than in f ashion, Lamarque claims there are many sectors where this appeal to men is mor e successful: “Finance, for example, or property, insurance and the w orld of wine: the beverage is at the top of the rankings for investments on influencer s, above f ashion and travel.”
For those who find the r ight character, admits Lamarque, the result is assured: “I followed Café Costume, a brand that mak es tailored suits for b usiness people, communicating only via Instag ram,” she says. The choice of f aces, curiously, fell on pr otagonists from the fr inges of rock and indie: “In this way, a businessman has the impression of buying a piece of adv enture and freedom.” And for every euro invested, says Lamarque, if you do not make mistakes, the return is 600 %.
Franziska Gsell Chief marketing officer of IWC
YES With its one hundred and fifty years of history, IWC Schaffhausen is one of the w atchmaking brands that most uses influencers for its communication strategies. “The way we see it, they represent the indispensable evolution of the role of the ambassador towards the world of dig ital innovation,” explains Franziska Gsell, Chief marketing officer of the Swiss company based in canton Schaffhausen. IWC doesn’t only recruit high-profile characters such as the model and Instag rammer Andres Velencoso, founder of High Fashion Man Ry an Clark or the Italian Luca Macellar i Palmieri: also the company’s own managing director, Christoph GraingerHerr, who posted a shot of the Big Pilot automatic chr onograph during a safari in Africa, transforming a prototype into a commercial success. “Within a few hours we received a hundred orders, weeks before the product had been officially launched,” says Gsell. The so-called micro-influencers, with a pool of followers of half a million ar e, compared to maxi-influencers, particularly effective in generating engagement, a for m of involvement that can lead to a pur chase.
They are figures with precise characteristics; ambition, a recognised passion for mechanical things, a strong sense of style and a r eal passion for adventure: “If you find the r ight influencer, directly or indirectly, the result is assured: on our social channels the audience has r isen 30 % in the last y ear.” The only mistake to avoid, the manager insists, is to f all into the temptation of ‘using’ the influencers, bending them in a w ay that is too sla vish to the needs of the brand that employs them. “Influencer marketing must be understood as a partnership, not as an advertising endorsement. These are individuals who have to bring authenticity, creativity, a per sonal storytelling and a different point of view. Being dictator ial about what they have to say and post stifles the energy, and ensures the message goes unheard.”